CD ECM Records Kim Kashkashian, Kavakos, Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble - Tigran Mansurian: Monodia

2004

Kim Kashkashian - viola
The Hilliard Ensemble
Leonidas Kavakos - vioara
Jan Garbarek - saxofon
Münchener Kammerorchester , dirijeaza Christoph Poppen

Tigran Mansurian :

"... And Then I Was In Time Again" - Concerto For Viola And Orchestra

Concerto For Violin And Orchestra

"Lachrymae" For Soprano Saxophone And Viola

"Confessing With Faith" For Viola And Two Voices

Kim Kashkashian’s advocacy of the music of Tigran Mansurian led to last year’s critically-acclaimed “Hayren” album. Now comes a fuller portrait of Armenia’s foremost composer. This double album, made with Mansurian’s participation, includes premiere recordings of works of the last decade, in which Kashkashian is variously joined by Christoph Poppen and the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Jan Garbarek, and the Hilliard Ensemble, while Leonidas Kavakos is the soloist in the 1981 Concert for Violin and Orchestra. An extraordinary cast, doing justice to extraordinary music. “Monodia” is certain to be a much-discussed recording

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Grammy Nomination 2005
Stereoplay, Klangtipp

Tigran Mansurian connects through his work to cultural and emotional groundsprings that are important to him, particularly hints of indigenous Armenian music. He also takes note of his current musical environment, and this sense of inner and outer elements combining informs both the music on these discs and the way it is played – especially by fellow-Armenian Kim Kashkashian. … The Viola Concerto is both moving and mercurial, sometimes grounded in faith or earth, at other times clouded and troubled, even close to defiance… The economically scored Violin Concerto is again rich in unaccompanied material and Leonidas Kavakos seems to relish every note, especially in the many higher-reaching passages. … “Lachrymae” for soprano saxophone and viola finds Kashkashian and Garbarek intertwined in an embrace of pitches and textures, each adapting to, or mirroring, the other’s soundworld. “Confessing Faith” for viola and voices sets prayers by the 12th-century Armenian poet and musician St Nerses Shnorhali, its bold incantations scaling peaks of expressive intensity, especially whenever the countertenor David James enters. The viola’s warm and occasionally abrasive contribution acts as a sort of humanising presence. Monodia set me thinking along various fronts. Firstly, about the strength and innate soulfulness of Kashkashian’s musicianship, so profoundly suited to the viola. Then the creative excitement of combining unlikely instrumental timbres, and the question of music bridging different faiths, or at the very least different branches of the same faith. … Balancing and sound quality are immaculate.
Rob Cowan, Gramophone

Tigran Mansurian is one of the most interesting composers to come from the former Soviet Union, an Armenian whose music is rich with historical allusions yet beating with a modern heart. His friend and champion, the violist Kim Kashkashian, is the soloist in the first of this twin CD’s two concertos, with the Violin Concerto equally brilliantly handled by the young Greek Leonidas Kavakos.
Andrew Clarke, The Independent

ECM’s release last year of Hayren, a disc of extraordinary music by Tigran Mansurian, left me feeling impatient for the promised sequel. This is it – and it’s every bit as impressive as its predecessor. The hallmarks of Mansurian’s idiom are immediately recognizable: a contemporary European style fused to the ancient musical traditions of his native Armenia; a laconic but deeply expressive lyricism imbued with the pain of a terrible history yet sustained by a commitment to place, community and shared spiritual conviction; a complete absence of showiness or desire to ingratiate; and a mood of high seriousness leavened by an ability to be clear, direct and original. …
This two disc set presents four works, three in première recording. “And then I was in time again” – the title is from Faulkner - is actually the Concerto for viola and strings … The piece belongs overwhelmingly to the solo viola, whose vividly figured subjectivity constitutes its principal interest: and thus the piece belongs to Kashkashian, its dedicatee, whose articulate, perfectly weighted, sumptuous playing is deeply affecting. ...
The only work here to have been previously recorded is the 1981 Concerto for violin and strings; it’s therefore also the only one without the garland of Kashkashian’s magnificent viola playing. … Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos is simply electrifying, delivering the searingly expressive soloistic part with warm-toned brilliance. The piece comes to life as a solemn disquisition, movingly and dramatically interrupted on several occasions by a simple, disarmingly innocent runic tune utterly at odds with the work’s modernist disposition. …
Accompanied by a 54-page booklet that includes song texts, translations, interviews and photos, this is altogether a richly rewarding release.
Christopher Ballantine, International Record Review